On Wednesday, Oct. 21 at NJSBA’s Workshop 2026, the NJSBA Advocacy department led a moderated panel discussion – co-hosted by the Garden State Coalition of Schools (GSCS) – on various educational issues with representatives of the New Jersey State Legislature. This year’s panelists included:
- Senator M. Teresa Ruiz (D-29) – Senate Majority Leader
- Senator Vin Gopal (D-11) – Chair, Senate Education Committee
- Assemblywoman Rosaura “Rosy” Bagolie (D-27) – Vice-Chair, Assembly Education Committee
- Assemblyman Antwan McClellan (R-1) – Deputy Minority Leader
NJSBA Vice President for Legislation/Resolutions Charles Caraballo opened the session by welcoming attendees and introducing Betsy Ginsburg, Executive Director of GSCS and President of the Glen Ridge Board of Education. Ginsburg thanked the panelists for participating in the panel discussion before turning the podium over to Jonathan Pushman, NJSBA’s Senior Director of Advocacy. Pushman acknowledged the collaborative working relationship between NJSBA and GSCS, not just in coordinating successful legislative panels at Workshop for several years, but also for advocating on behalf of the ongoing achievement of New Jersey’s students.
Pushman kicked off the panel discussion by asking the panelists to discuss their thoughts on school funding. While acknowledging that the current system of school funding is not working for many districts, the panel expressed optimism that Governor Mikie Sherrill and Commissioner of Education Dr. Lily Laux have chosen to dive right in to the problem and get to work in their first year in office. Panelists referenced the New Jersey Department of Education’s (NJDOE) Statewide School Funding Outreach project and specifically the School Funding Steering Committee. Sen. Ruiz and Sen. Gopal each serve on the steering committee as representatives of the State Legislature; the NJSBA is also represented on the steering committee, which began to meet in September.
The discussion on school funding segued perfectly into a conversation on the rising cost of health benefits, which continues to place immense pressure on districts’ budgets. Sen. Gopal touched on S-4438, a bill he is sponsoring this legislative session that would seek to address the School Employees’ Health Benefits Plan (SEHBP) to bring down costs for districts in the state health plan. While he and the NJSBA expressed some hesitations that the bill, as currently drafted, may not fully address the issues at hand, the panel agreed that it was important to get a conversation started on how to bring down health care costs for public employers. (Note: For more information, see NJSBA’s written testimony on S-4438 from Oct. 15.)
The legislators spoke about a number of other issues currently affecting boards of education, including the number of mandates passed down to districts from the state; the growing need for facilities funding; the Federal Scholarship Tax Credit; and the new statewide bell-to-bell ban on internet-enabled devices, which was enacted in January through the passage of a bill sponsored by Asw. Bagolie. The panelists closed the session by sharing how board members can best communicate with legislative offices to advocate for their districts’ needs.
